My Brother's Crush AKA My Crush
by Lunarstar042713
Summary: I never wanted to fall for Katie. I didn't even understand why Travis liked her so much. What's worst is that now I'm stuck trying to help my brother get the girl we both want. I thought I was done with this whole romance crap but I guess I never learn. And I think Katie likes Travis, just my luck...
1. Similarities

**Connor**

Being Travis' brother was a pain sometimes. I mean sure we loved to prank people and fool around and we looked almost exactly the same, but we were different in some ways. Travis was a ladies man. He made it easy to get a date. Travis just had this kind of gift to be able to talk to girls. But me? I always got tongue-tied when I was trying to invite my past crushes on dates. I would get nervous and just start rambling nonsense. That wasn't exactly hot. I stopped trying after making a fool of myself trying to ask Cathy, a daughter of Athena, to be my valentine. That was a complete disaster. I didn't see the sword just lying on the ground and I didn't mean to push Cathy into the puddle of mud. It wasn't my fault she was standing behind it. Travis, for his part made sure to take a lot of embarrassing pictures. That was last year and he still brings it up until this day when we run into Cathy at the pavilion.

I thought Travis had it easy until his ability to charm was challenged by none other than Katie Gardner. Since we arrived to camp at 12, he's wanted to date her. We're 16 now and he still hasn't found a way to make her fall for him, so he drags me into another prank especially reserved just for her. Worst news, I also have had a crush on her since I was twelve, but not like I'm going to tell Travis that. He'd kill me. The thing is that I'm not going to make a move on her and I'm stuck helping my brother win her over with pranks. A stupid idea if you asked me, but I can't exactly turn him down. Travis really wants Katie. I've never seen him be more serious in his entire life about a girl before, which makes me feel guilty that I also harbor the same feelings for the same girl.

That's why I help him. To make up for the attraction I feel for Katie. Besides, who would want to date me when they could have my easy-going brother. I think it's unfair that he got all the charm and I got the brains sometimes. It's funny that we are identical and he actually knows what he's doing. The only reason he needs my help is so that I can take most of the blame by saying it was my idea. That makes me mad sometimes, but I can tell in Katie's eyes that she knows it's Travis because I just prank random people from time to time, when I'm bored. Travis has bugged her ever since she got here. That makes me feel a bit better even though I get in trouble with Travis anyway.

Why do I even like her? Sure she's pretty and everything with her long brown hair that she always puts in a pony tail when she's working on the strawberry fields or any work that involves plants. When she yells at us, it's not really anger, just annoyance. And when she chases us, you can tell she's athletic, even if she's never done sports and I like sporty girls. They real question is, when will I get over her?

* * *

"Connor, let's go!" Travis yelled as I was slowly getting up from my bunk.

"Why do we have to get up early again?" I muttered. Travis ran up to me.

"You know Katie gets up early to go to the strawberry fields," He whispered at me, even though he had already woken up the entire cabin.

"Fine, I'm going..." I finally said and started getting dressed. I wished that Travis would leave me alone in the mornings. I don't wake up until eight, but you can't say no to Travis. Especially if it's got anything to do with a certain daughter of Demeter. As we were heading to the strawberry fields, we talked about the plan that Travis came up with.

"Okay, so I filled up these balloons with water. We hide behind the bush we always pass when Katie chases us. Then we throw them at her," Travis finished.

"And how is this going to get you a date with her?" I asked. Travis merely shrugged.

"I don't know, but it's bound to do something for me."

"Yeah, like getting us beat up again," I said.

"Hey! That was only once and how was I supposed to know that all of the Demeter cabin was inside when we threw the tar in their cabin?"

"Fine, but I think this is a stupid idea."

"You got anything better, genius?"

"Tell her," It seemed pretty obvious to me.

"What? Are you crazy? After all the pranking we've done to her? It's too late for that. We should just stick to the plan."

"Whatever," I said and we continued on our way. When we got to the fields, we didn't Katie picking strawberries as usual. We saw Malcolm talking and laughing along with her. I didn't know if he liked her or not, but I felt jealousy. I could tell that's what Travis was feeling by just looking at his angry face. He kept his eyes on them, but extended a hand at me.

"Give me a-" He didn't get to finish his sentence. I had already thrown the balloon at them. I didn't want to hit Katie, so I hit Malcolm.

"What the heck?" Malcolm said as he looked to see who did it. Travis looked at me questionably but I just gave him a look that meant to leave it to me. I got out of the bushes with Travis.

"Follow my lead," I whispered to Travis and turned to Katie and Malcolm again.

"What in Hades Malcolm? That wasn't for you!" I shouted angrily at him. Travis seemed to have gotten what I was trying to do.

"Yeah, that was for Katie," he added. Katie got up, her face red from anger.

"Stolls!" She said through gritted teeth.

"What?" I continued, "We thought you needed the plants watered."

"And, you looked kind of thirsty so since we're such gentlemen, we thought we should get you a drink." Travis gave her his pearly white smile that she was immune to and we made a run for it.

"COME BACK HERE!" She screamed behind us. I felt happy again, knowing that she was paying attention to me, even if I was sharing that attention with my brother.

* * *

We made it to our cabin and locked the door shut.

"I think we lost her," Travis said as I fell on my bed from exhaustion.

"Yeah. Man, what a workout," I commented.

"Dude, what happened back there?" He asked.

"What do you mean?"

"You shot Malcolm with a water balloon."

"So?"

"So, I was going to do that." We laughed together like always. Yeah, we had our differences but I never expected that we'd have the same crush. Worst yet, that I'd be helping him get her.

* * *

**I just thought that it would be interesting to have that conflict between Travis, Connor and Katie. :)**

**~Melissa L.**


	2. Trouble at the Athena Cabin

**Connor**

"Travis, don't you think you're taking this a bit too far?" I asked him as we tip-toed into the Athena cabin. The Athenian kids were at their activities like Travis and I should be, but he convinced me to skip to do this.

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, you don't really know if Malcolm was hitting on her or not." Travis wasn't the type of person to think things through. We made it to Malcolm's bunk without getting detected.

"It's just to make sure. Nobody makes a move on my girl," Travis said a bit possessively.

"Chill, dude. She's not yours yet. Anyway, do we really have to detonate firecrackers from under his bed when he sleeps?" I wasn't too thrilled about this idea. We would get killed by the Athena cabin. When they said they were going to get back at you, they got back at you good.

"You worry too much," Travis said, "Help me move his mattress so we can put them under it." I couldn't argue with this guy. I helped him put the firecrackers in place and gently put made the bed look like it was before.

"I swear, when we get caught, I'm telling them it was your idea," I told him as we ran from the cabin.

"And I'll tell them it was your idea," He countered.

* * *

_Midnight_

"I still think this is stupid," I whispered at Travis as we crouched under one of the windows from the Athena cabin. Travis made me come with him because he wanted to see Malcolm's face when the firecrackers went off.

"Where's your sense of humor?"

"Where's your common sense?"

"Just give me the remote," I reluctantly gave it to him.

"You know, it's not too late to go back. We could just hurry, get back to bed like nothing ever happened and come back to get those things so we don't get killed." Travis smirked at me and pushed the button. I couldn't help but want to see what would happen. Being a son of Hermes, I had the natural attraction to mischief. What can I say? It was in my DNA. The point was that when those firecrackers went off, it was the most hilarious thing ever! Malcolm jumped from his exploding bed, tripping over his sheets that he gotten tangled from. The children of Athena got up immediately and started scattering around for their weapons. They thought they were being attacked. Meanwhile, Malcolm's bed had caught on fire and some of them were trying to put it out.

Travis and I were laughing like idiots, which wasn't exactly very subtle. Annabeth suddenly turned her head in our direction but we ducked.

"Run for it!" I said and we ran back to our cabin, almost tripping to get to our beds. As quietly and quickly as possible, we jumped into the cabin through an open window and dived into our beds.

* * *

In the morning, the Hermes cabin got a special visit from a very ticked off blonde and Chiron.

"Alright, who did it?!" Annabeth demanded as she stared daggers at each of our half siblings.

"What's wrong Annabeth?" I asked her.

"Don't act dumb with me Stoll. I know it was one of you that set off explosives in our cabin."

"Why are we always getting blamed for every prank that goes on at camp?" Chris asked.

"You guys are always the number one suspects on anything but I know for a fact that it was you so spill now or so help me I'll-" her threat was interrupted by Chiron clearing his throat. Annabeth calmed down.

"Listen children," Chiron started, "It's best if whoever did it confesses or else I'll be forced to have you on cleaning duty for a month."

"What?" Jessica exclaimed, "That's not fair! I didn't do anything...that involved explosives." A chorus of "I didn't do it" and "It's not fair" erupted. I looked at my brother. I gave him the we-have-to-take-responsibility-for-our-actions look. He then gave me a we'll-be-in-so-much-trouble-if-we-come-clean look. I sighed, if he wasn't going to do it, I was going to do it for the both of us because I was not taking the blame on this one alone.

"Everyone," I yelled to get there attention, "I have something to say so shut up!" They all calmed down enough to turn to me. Travis was giving me the don't-do-it-or-I'll-kill-you look. I ignored him and continued. "I know who did it."

"Well tell us then," Haley told me.

"It was me and Travis," I said.

"I knew it! Stolls!" Annabeth started to make her way to me but Chiron put a hand on her shoulder.

"Calm down, Annabeth," He then looked at me, "Well, young men, you will have clean up duty at the stables for a week and you will have to apologize to the Athena cabin, as well as repair any damage you may have caused," Chiron said simply. Great, clean up duty at the stables. That was going to be a nightmare and Travis was definitely mad at me but I had a way to make it up to him.

* * *

"I told you not to say anything," Travis muttered at me for the millionth time today. We were at the Athena cabin trying to fix the hole on the floor. The firecrackers were a bit too powerful. Malcolm, himself, was making sure we didn't do anything else. After a few minutes of silence, Malcolm spoke up.

"So why'd you do it?" He asked.

"None of your business," Travis retorted.

"It kind of is. You almost blew up the cabin."

"Because we thought it would be funny. Why else would we do it?"

"This doesn't have anything to do with the other day when I was talking to Katie was it?" We both stopped what we were doing.

"We don't know what you're taking about," I told him.

"It's so obvious that Travis likes her. Why else would you guys bug her so much."

"That's not true," Travis protested, starting to go red.

"It seems that Katie seems to be the only one that doesn't know it, though. Look, just to set the record straight, as soon as those things went off from my bed, I knew it was you guys. Don't worry, I don't like Katie that way. We're just good friends." Malcolm smiled at us.

"Phew! That's good 'cause I was already planning this prank for you that involved stealing all your underwear," Travis commented.

"Um...yeah. Cool it with the jealousy. Not every guy she talks to likes her."

"That's what I told him," I said, "But he never listens."

* * *

**A little jealousy never hurt anyone, most of the time.**

**~Melissa L.**


	3. Who Should Be Captain, Connor?

**Connor**

After a long day of working at the Athena Cabin, we had just enough time to go bug Katie. We were heading to the Demeter Cabin. I suddenly felt Travis smack me.

"OW! What was that for?"

"I told you to shut up, but you never listen to me." He said.

"At least we know now that Malcolm wasn't interested in Katie so you shouldn't be mad at me and besides, you don't listen to me either."

"Still. We wasted a whole day that we could be using to be pranking Katie!"

"Of course." I rolled my eyes. We knocked on the door of cabin 4. No one answered the door. "Maybe no one's here." I said. Travis simply shrugged and opened the door. He walked in and I followed him, to make sure he didn't do anything stupid, at least not without me.

"Hello! Anyone home?" Travis called out loud. Silence. "Where could she be?"

"How am I supposed to know? You're her stalker not me."

"Hey! I don't stalk her." He said, looking offended. "I just observe her from a far away distance so she doesn't notice."

"Whatever, what now?"

"Now I remember!" Travis said suddenly, "Today's Wednesday and she has Arts and Crafts at five."

"And you don't call yourself a stalker because...?"

"Never mind that. We have that class today too. Come on, let's go before someone sees us," and he dragged me out the cabin.

* * *

We entered the Arts and Crafts class late as usual.

"Mr. Stolls, late again, I see," said Jackie, an uptight daughter of Apollo. She wasn't very fond of us but that was probably because we messed with their chariot. It was a joke! She didn't have to take it so seriously. "That's three times this week. One more time and you fail this class." We hurried to our assigned tables of three. It was very convenient that Jackie would put us both in the same table with Katie, not that either of us were complaining (except Katie, of course). As soon as she saw us, she glared at us as we sat down.

"Hey, how's my favorite farm girl?" Travis asked her, giving her a cheeky smile.

"I was fine until you walked in the door," she muttered.

"Don't be so cruel. We're a team!"

"I still don't understand how I got stuck with you two," She said annoyed.

"Listen up, class!" Jackie interrupted. She started talking about the project that we were working on about making some 3D model of a symbol to represent a god or something, but I was too distracted by Katie. That was mostly because she was hissing at Travis to stop poking her. "Okay, get your materials and start working," Jackie said.

"Okay, I'm captain of this team and I say we're making Hermes' flying sandals," Travis announced.

"You wish," Katie argued, "You're not going to be the captain. I will and I say that we're going to make a garden with different exotic flowers."

"No way am I going to do something so stupid."

"And flying shoes aren't stupid?" She asked angrily.

"Those are cool and they can take you anywhere," Travis countered, "Unlike flowers. They were made to be decorations to make things look pretty."

"How dare you! Flowers are living things! They're satyrs that had died and became incarnated into different kinds!" They kept arguing but Travis didn't look like he minded. I kept out of the argument because that was their thing. I sat there in silence for a while until Katie said," I'm right! Ask anyone."

"Please, I'm right!"

"Alright then," Katie looked at me, "Connor who should be captain, me or your stupid brother that will probably make us fail the class if he becomes captain?"

"Connor, who should be captain, me or this uptight girl who has no idea what she's doing and has a horrible sense of humor?" Travis asked.

"Connor, who?" Katie demanded.

"Hey, don't get me mixed up in your arguments!" I said, but in truth, I didn't want to pick between them.

"You're part of this team, too so like it or not, your vote counts too!" Katie told me. I sighed, knowing full well that Travis would beat me up later.

"Fine, I think Katie should be captain. Happy?" Travis stared at me, shocked. Katie on the other hand looked pleased with my answer and turned to Travis.

"You heard him. I'm captain, now go get a lot of paint because the garden's going to have a lot of color. I'm glad at least your brother isn't totally brain-dead like you."

* * *

As soon as class was over, Jackie dismissed us and she practically ran out the door. She really didn't like her last class since me and Travis were in it. I was heading out the door when Travis held me back. He waited 'till the classroom was empty and smacked me again.

"OW! Okay, seriously? Quit doing that."

"I thought we were brothers." Travis said angrily.

"Last time I checked, we are. Your point?"

"Why did you choose Katie over me?"

"Look I have a perfectly good reason for it," I smiled at him, trying to distract him because I couldn't come up with a good excuse. He looked confuse for a moment. My mind started working over time to come up with something.

"Really? What is it?" He asked.

"Well," then it clicked, "To help you with winning Katie over, duh."

"How is you being a horrible brother going to help?"

"Well, she hates to take orders from anyone, even more if it's you." I explained.

"In case you haven't noticed, dear brother, I also hate taking orders from her."

"True but you like her so suck it up. If I had picked you, she would've just hated you more."

"That makes sense," He smiled at me and put an arm around my shoulders guiding me out the door, "Thanks, bro. It's a good thing you're the smart one."

"Yeah so that means you owe me."

"Ha, you thought."


	4. I'm Just the Messenger

**Connor**

For the past week on working on the project, Travis complained and whined about how stupid the whole idea of the garden for the model was. Boy did he eat his words when we got an A on it.

"I told you it would get us an A!" Katie said smugly, "You should listen to me more often."

"Yeah, not gonna happen and so what? It was a lame project anyway, even Clovis and Harley got an A." Travis said. Working along side Katie, even with Travis around, was the best thing that happened to me. She smelled like lavender. Of course, I would've preferred if Travis wasn't always stealing her attention from me. After the project though, she started acting a bit strange. Every time me and Travis ran into her (when we actually weren't trying to stalk her) she'd get beet red and tell us to move out of her way. We'd catch her looking at our direction in classes and when Travis waved at her when we caught her looking, she'd scowl at us and go right back to what she was doing, but that didn't hide the blush that appeared instantly on her cheeks.

Travis and I were actually talking about it after we'd caught her looking at us again.

"I think she's starting to come around," Travis grinned, "I knew I'd get to her sooner or later."

"Yeah, lucky you," I said.

"Connor?"

"Yeah?" Travis looked serious, which was something that didn't happen often.

"You know how you kept on telling me that I should just tell her how I feel?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I want to try it."

"Okay then, well first, you need to-"

"But I'm scared I'll do something stupid," Travis interrupted me.

"Dude, you're the smoothest guy I know. Why are you going chicken on me now?" I asked him.

"It's just that...Katie makes me nervous. I've never really taken a relationship seriously before but now I do and I don't want to mess it up and-" He rambled on.

"Okay, Okay! Calm down. Geez! She's just a girl."

"She's not just some girl!" Travis protested, "She's Katie and I want to tell her how I feel but I guess I'm a little..." He mumbled.

"You're what?"

"You know...shy."

"You? Shy? Are you kidding me? You're Travis Stoll. You don't get shy," This was definitely not my brother. My brother didn't get shy, okay. Especially if it involved a girl.

"I'm just embarrassed, okay?"

"You're gonna have to face her some day, man. It's not like you can make someone go for you," I told him.

"That's a great idea!" He said suddenly, which made me jump a bit.

"What?"

"You can do it for me!"

"Are you crazy? I'm not doing it!" It was bad enough that I had to help Travis get Katie, but now he wants me to tell her how much he likes her? Forget it!

"C'mon, Connor. Please! You're always there for me," I started walking away.

"No way."

"You're always helping me." Travis continued.

"Forget it, Travis."

"You're so kind and caring and generous and-" He kept up the list until I couldn't take his begging anymore.

"Alright! I'll do it! But you owe me big time!" I screamed at him. He simply smiled at me, knowing that he got to me. I hated when he did that.

* * *

"Okay, so tell her that I'll see her on Friday at 7," Travis said. We were talking about how I was going to be his messenger and talk to Katie for him.

"What? But you haven't talked to her yet! You can't just say you'll be going on a date!"

"It works all the time with other girls," Travis explained, "They love the whole bad boy thing."

"Well, Katie doesn't, remember? You tried that already when we were 13." I reminded him.

"Then what do I tell her?"

"I don't know, something romantic."

"Okay, how about this. Katie, you're hot."

"How is that romantic?"

"I just called her hot. Chicks love that." I sighed. He really didn't understand Katie didn't fall for things like that. If she did, Travis would already have his arm around her. "You know what, here." Travis handed me a small device.

"What's this?"

"It's a chip. I got it from the Hephaestus cabin. You put it in your ear and I tell you what I would say. And you put this," He handed me another small device. "In your shirt pocket so I can listen to you guys."

"You have everything planned out, don't you? I asked.

"Yep."

"Why do I feel like this isn't going to work?"

"Because you're paranoid, now put them on. We have a date with a cute daughter of Demeter."

* * *

I was walking to the strawberry fields. Katie was already there. Travis would be hiding in a nearby bush and I had to say exactly what he told me to say. I had a potted purple orchid. Travis said that was cliché, but I told him that girls loved flowers, especially daughters of Demeter. It was hard to get this, but it was worth it. Travis suggested just getting a rose but I figured that Katie would appreciate a potted plant that can still grow rather than a flower that would die in a week.

I started getting nervous and I shouldn't because I wouldn't be confessing anything. Travis was. I was just the messenger. I walked up to her. She was picking some strawberries and hadn't noticed me yet.

"Um, Katie?" I spoke up. She looked up and scowled.

"Great, just what I needed. Where's the other idiot? Is Travis planning to sneak up on me while you distract me and why are you holding a really pretty orchid?" I started going red. Why didn't Travis got someone else to do this.

"Yo, bro. Will you tell her something instead of just looking like you're a zombie?" I heard Travis.

"Uh, yeah. This is for you." I handed her the pot. "It's from...my friend."

"Friend huh?" Katie smiled at me. "Well, you have a very nice friend."

"Don't tell her it's me yet," Travis said.

"Why?" I whispered.

"Not yet. I gotta make sure she's hooked before you tell her it's me." Hooked? What did he mean?

"So are you going to tell me who your friend is?" The way she smiled at me made me feel hot.

"I...Uh, yeah. But first. He wanted me to say some things to you." I waited for Travis to talk to me.

"Okay, tell her that I'd liked her since I saw her."

"He has liked you ever since he saw you," I repeated.

"And I think that she's hot and I like my ladies feisty." He's crazy if he thinks those words are coming out of my mouth.

"And," I continued, "He thinks you're very pretty and likes your fiery personality." That sounded more decent.

"Dude! That's not what I said!" Travis complained._ Just let me handle this, Travis_, I thought.

"He also likes that your hair smell nice," I continued, "He was just stupid and didn't know how to approach you."

"Hey!" Travis complained. "Stop talking bad about me!" I ignored him.

"He thought that pranks were the best solution, but then he realized that was the stupidest idea ever."

"You helped me plan them, Connor," Travis defended himself.

"I think I know who you're talking about, Connor," Katie said. She was blushing.

"You do?" I asked.

"Well, I'm not one hundred percent sure but I don't want you to tell me yet."

"Why?"

"I just think that it's different." She said. "Are you, like, the 'messenger'?"

I blushed, "I guess."

"Then ask your 'friend' if he wants to reveal himself."

"Okay, I will." I waited for Travis.

"I don't know," Travis said, "Ask her what happens if I don't reveal myself."

"He wants to know what happens if he doesn't reveal himself." I told her.

"Then you can just continue to be the 'messenger' for him."

"Really? Tell her if she wants to go on a date with me?"

"Will you go on a date with me?" Then I realized what I said, "I mean, him! Sorry, slip of the tongue." I was sure I was beet red now. When could I go?

"Are you going to show up for him?" she asked, looking amused.

"Yes," Travis answered.

I sighed. Travis was so dead after this, "Yeah. It'll be me."

"Then I guess I'll see you tomorrow here at five, okay?"

"Wait, what are we going to do?" I asked.

"We'll see tomorrow. Bye Connor, and tell your 'friend' bye for me too." With that, she left, holding a basket of strawberries and the orchid I'd given her. Travis finally came out of the bush and smacked my head.

"OW! Okay, you're going to make me have brain damage one of these days," I whined.

"Why didn't you just repeat everything I said?"

"Hey, I got you a date with her, didn't I? Don't worry. Instead of me, it'll be you and then you guys can go out."

"No."

"What?" Did Travis just say no?

"You have to be me for a little longer. Obviously, you know how to talk to her, so you hang out with her for a while, I learn all about her through you, and then I use all that new knowledge to get her to fall in love with me. Genius!" Travis grinned at his 'brilliant' idea.

"I don't know, Travis..."

"Do I have to beg again? Because you know I will." In truth, I really wanted to do it because I'd get to be with Katie without Travis being a distraction but after that was over, Travis would get Katie. _What could go wrong?_ I thought.

"Fine, but don't think I'll enjoy it," I lied.


End file.
